Trip Report: Door Jamb Mountain
This trip report is for an ascent of Door Jamb Mountain in the Kananaskis – Exshaw/Seebe area.
Elevation: 1960m/6430ft
Date: December 2, 2023
Range: Fairholme Mountains
Door Jamb Mountain is the first peak on a ridgeline that can lead you up to Loder’s Peak and Goat Mountain. Today was a very windy, but sunny day so we decided to see how far we could make it up the mountain before it felt unsafe.
We started from the Jura Creek parking lot around 12:30 pm through the lower trail and then immediately started climbing once we reached the rock before the telecom poles.
A very icy and scree-filled grind up for the next bit until we hit the ridgeline line that was all rock face (so much easier to walk on). Crampons wouldn’t have done much good on the ice here sadly.
The wind was blowing pretty hard but it wasn’t enough to make us turn back. We started to ascend the exposed ridgeline and took a short break at the rest point to get a break from the wind.
As we continued up, we got to do some great scrambling. We diverted a lot from the main trail but it was not marked well so it was hard to keep track. Lots of exposed rock climbing and scrambling along the ridge with great views of the valley.
We reached the base of the summit it was nowhere as windy as the ridgeline. No wind on the way up to the summit and no wind at the summit either.
It was a beautiful day up there but we started pretty late and took our time up to the summit so we didn’t feel like we had enough time to make it to Loder Peak and get down with light to spare.
We started down the ridgeline, pretty easy at first. We tried to find some better routes to descend the scrambling sections so they weren’t as difficult to climb down.
Once we hit the icy scree though it was a shit show. I crab-walked down to avoid slipping on the icy scree trail, however, we both slipped and fell back a few times despite the caution we took.
The descent honestly sucked and I would not like to do that again. My knees were aching when we got back to the lot but we there just in time for the sun to set.
My AllTrails app recorded a total trip of 4.8 km and a gain of 660m. Next time I’m in this area I think I’ll do the traverse from Door Jamb to Yamnuska, so I can bag a few more peaks.
